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Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (4): 545–555

Biodiversity of Sudan: between the harsh conditions, politicalinstability and civil wars

Ahmed A.H. Siddig

PhD candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst - Dept. Environmental Conservation, 160 Holdsworth Way/Amherst, MA01003-9285 U.S.A.; email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT More than 90% of the area of Sudan is classified as desert and semi-desert ecosystems, anddesertification is spreading with global climatic changes. Also the country is suffering from60 years of chronic civil wars and instability. Consequently these situations have severelyaffected the status and trend of biological diversity of the country to critical thresholds (i.e.extinction) as many reports show. Improved knowledge of the current status of biodiversity inresponse to such conservation challenges is critically important. In this review, my aim is tohighlight the recent conservation challenges of Sudan as they relate to desertification and civilwars, and to look at the big picture of the impacts of these challenges to biodiversity conser-vation in Africa. I then present examples of urgent management interventions and researchneeds for better biodiversity conservation. The primary message of this paper is to confirm thepossibility of making conservation actions in these vulnerable areas. It is never too late as longas there is peace and willingness. This framework could be a model to tackle and analyses bio-diversity conservation issues in similar cases in the region.

KEY WORDS Africa; Biodiversity conservation; desertification; dry-lands; political instability; Sudan.

Received 17.10.2014; accepted 11.12.2014; printed 30.12.2014

INTRODUCTION

The news coming from Sudan is always aboutcivil war, political conflicts, awful statistics aboutthe refugees and displaced people and rarely opti-mistic. In addition to the political instability, envi-ronmentally the country is one of the most fragile,dry and desertified areas in Sub-Saharan Africa,which leads to high vulnerability to global climaticchanges and extreme events such as drought andflooding (I.P.C.C., 2013). The United Nations Con-vention on Combating Desertification (U.N.C.C.D.)defined dry lands (arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humidzones) as areas other than polar and sub-polarregions in which the aridity index (i.e. the ratio of

annual precipitation to potential evapo-transpiration)falls within the range of 0.05-0.65 (U.N.C.C.D.,1994). According to this definition, about 93% ofthe area of the country is classified as dryland (Table1), which extends from hyper arid and arid zones inthe north to the semi-deserts in the middle to lowrainfall woodlands savanna in the deep south andsouth east (Goda, 2007; Mustafa, 2007).

In addition to the dominant harsh conditionsthere are some areas with unique ecological condi-tions such as mountains, the Nile strip and wetlandsdepressions. These areas support vegetation com-munities and natural habitats that are critical tomaintaining biological diversity, particularlywildlife and forest resources (Mukhtar & El

Wakeel, 2002). The forest resources in Sudan wereestimated by F.A.O. in 1990 to be about 19% of thetotal area of the northern part of the country, but thecurrent report of U.S.A.I.D. in 2012 showed thetotal forested areas of the country have been re-duced substantially to about 11.6 % (Fig.1).

Despite the habitat loss and degradation, theseforests are still playing vital environmental roles inbiodiversity conservation and combating desertifi-cation as well as supporting the livelihood of localcommunities. For instance the forest products con-sumption survey conducted by the Forest National

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Aridity Zone Ecosystem type Area (Square Km)

% (Area of the Sudan)

Annual Rainfall (mm)

Aridity Index(R=P/PET)

Hyper-arid Desert 776000 41 < 20 < 0.05

Arid Semi-desert 630000 33 20 - 100 0.05 – 0.20

Semi-arid Grassland Savanna 340000 18 100 – 300 0.21 – 0.50

Dry sub-humid Low rainfall woodland Savanna 65000 3 300 – 500 0.51 – 0.65

Sub-tropic High rainfall woodland Savanna 70000 4 500 – 800 > 0.65

Total 1881000 100

Table 1. Classification and extent of dry lands in Sudan adapted from Ayoub (1998), Mustafa (2007) and Badri (2012).

Figure 1. The location of Sudan in Africa (left). The map of land cover showing the ecological gradients from the desert in thenorth to rainy savannah in the deep south (right). The area of the country divided between 50.7% as desert, 13 % agriculturallands, 12.6 % grass lands, 10% forests cover,1 % Water resources. ~ 1% others (i.e. urban areas). Adapted from F.A.O. (2012).

AHMED A. H. SIDDIG

Corporation (F.N.C.) in 1995 showed that forestsare the main sources of sawn timber, round poles,building materials and 87.5% of energy (fuel wood)to the country. Also about 100 indigenous treesspecies provide direct food, oil, honey, fruit, fodder,gum, fiber, medicine, and tannin agents to the peo-ple (Badi, 2004). Takona (1999) and Siddig &Abdellhameed (2013) emphasized the great socioe-conomic, cultural and heritage values of biodiver-sity of Sudan, and the value of local markets basedon wildlife products, forest products and fibers craft-ing materials as an employment opportunity formany people, especially in rural areas.

Although there are a few efforts by local govern-mental agencies and NGOs, there are many criticalchallenges facing biodiversity of Sudan. First, po-litical instability and civil wars led the country tolose about 70% of its biodiversity that was concen-trated in the southern part, as it became independentstate in 2011 as republic of South Sudan. Severewars continue in about 50% of the rest of the coun-try (8 states out of 15). Second, the combination ofsocio-economic (e.g. food insecurity and refugees)and global environmental factors (e.g. climatechange, drought and desertification) plus the lackof integrated plans exacerbate the decline of biolog-ical diversity of the country to critical thresholds(i.e. extinction). The need to know the current statusof biodiversity in response to such complex politi-cal and environmental challenges is criticallyimportant. Nimir, (1995), Takona, (1999), Funk etal. (2011) and Badri (2012) pose many logicalquestions on this topic. I suggest that the most im-portant questions include: What is the current stateof biodiversity of the country in the light of thesewars and harsh conditions? What and where are thehot spots of conservation? What are the subsequentchallenges facing biodiversity? And most impor-tantly, how can these challenges will be solved?

This review comes to bring attention to theimpacts of wars combined with harsh conditions onbiodiversity as regional theme with a particular caseof Sudan after July 2011 based on recent govern-mental and international agencies reports workingin Sudan as well as the domestic literature. The spe-cific aims of this paper are two-fold. First, I displayand diagnose the most serious challenges of biodi-versity conservation in the country based on mypoint of view. Second, I present a vision of solutionsas a suggested framework for biodiversity conser-

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vation, including a top ten management strategiesand urgent research needs.

CONSERVATION CHALLENGES

The critical challenges facing biodiversity inSudan are similar to elsewhere in the continent, andhave been listed in Takona (1999), Goda (2000),Abdelhameed & Nimir (2007), Nur (2007), U.N.E.P.(2007), and Badri (2012). Although I generally agreewith these previous studies about these problems, Iargue that political conflicts and civil wars is a chal-lenge that substantially affects everything in thecountry including biodiversity. In the followingpoints I show how continuous conflicts and unrestdirectly impact biodiversity conservation:

Species loss and mass extinctions

Almost 60 years of violence led the country tolose its southern part, and continues in more than50% of the rest of the rest of the country (9 statesout of 17). In addition, there are intermittent mili-tary tensions in the border between Sudan andSouth Sudan from time to time. Consequently, hun-dreds of individuals of many taxa have been killedas a direct effect of shootings and fire set by fight-ers. Also, several species (e.g. Gazelles and Ostrich)have declined due to overhunting by the militantswho use them as a primary food source in thewoods. Recent IUCN (2013, e.g. Tables 5) Tablesof endangered species indicate the absence of infor-mation for about 114 animals’ species (i.e. datadeficit) and 127 species reported as threatened,including 19 plants and 108 animals (16 mammals,18 birds, 3 reptiles, 21 fishes and 50 invertebrates).Many ecologically important species went extinctsince 1980s or are thought to be extirpated fromtheir natural territories in Blue Nile, South Darfurand the Nuba mountains regions. Species endan-gered because of these conflicts and other stressors(e.g. drought) include top predators: cheetah,Acinonyx jubatus Schreber, 1775; African lion,Panthera leo Linnaeus, 1758; greater spotted eagle,Aquila clanga Pallas, 1811; imperial eagle, Aquilaheliaca Savigny, 1809; houbara bustard, Chlamy-dotis undulata (Jacquin, 1784); and lesser kestrel,Falco naumanni J.G. Fleischer, 1818. Herbivorouson the endangered list are Hippopotamus, Hip-

Biodiversity of Sudan: between the harsh conditions, political instability and civil wars

popotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758; Barbarysheep, Ammotragus lervia Pallas, 1777; Dorcasgazelle, Gazella dorcas Linnaeus, 1758; red-fronted gazelle, Gazella rufifrons Gray, 1846;Soemmerring’s gazelle, Gazella soemmerringeiCretzschmar, 1826; African elephant, Loxodontaafricana Blumenbach, 1797; and African spurredtortoise, Geochelone sulcata (Miller, 1779), as wellas several bats like Trevor’s free-tailed bat, Mopstrevori (Allen, 1917); horn-skinned bat, Eptesicusfloweri (de Winton, 1901); and lappet-faced vulture,Torgos tracheliotos (Forster, 1791) (Badri, 2012).

Habitat loss and fragmentation

Habitat loss and fragmentation due to excessivedeforestation and agricultural expansion in forestlands. The Sudanese Forest National Corporation(F.N.C.) estimated that vast forested areas of thesub-humid zones in southern Darfur and Kordofanhave been cleared by refugees and displaced peoplefor use as fuel wood and building poles. Approxi-mately 1 million hectares was cut down during2005-2010 in both Sudan and South Sudan (F.A.O.,2005; Gaafar, 2011). Also according to the U.N.mission in Sudan, millions of people from both Su-dans have become internally displaced and refugeesas a direct impact war, surviving hard conditionsand depending largely on the already poor forestsfor shelter and livelihood.

Insufficient governmental support

For decades, the government’s major concernalways is to deal with wars. There is not enoughgovernment effort or budget allocated to developconservation programs. It is no secret in Sudan thatfor decades, the budget of the ministries of defenseand interior is about 50-60% of the total, with therest divided among more than 25 ministries.Furthermore, the latest trends in international armstransfers showed that Sudan is classified among thetop three African countries in weapons imports,after Algeria and Morocco, receiving 9% of the totalcontinent’s imports (Wezeman & Wezeman, 2014).These numbers show the priorities of the govern-ment, and why ministries like environment andphysical development, higher education, andscience and technology receive less than 1% of thetotal budget annually.

Redundant and weak institutions

Redundant and weak institutions are responsi-ble for managing natural resources and enforcingconservation policies. It is surprising that manyministries are formed to accommodate oppositionand former militia leaders who agree to partici-pate in the government and not because of thetechnical need for these ministries. Thus the is-sues of biodiversity are divided among at least 5ministries and unfortunately none of them is fullyfunctional. For example it is primarily follow toMinistry of the Environment and Physical Devel-opment, but it has redundancies with the Ministryof Agriculture (especially at the state level),Forest National Corporation, the Higher Councilof the Environment and Natural Resource andWildlife Protection Administration in the Ministryof Interior.

Data deficits

A general problem in Sudan is informationgaps in almost all sectors, particularly the currentbiodiversity status and geographical distribution(What is where? What are the trends?). For exam-ple, there are no current detailed studies about thestate of biodiversity of some important ecosystemssuch as Blue Nile state (e.g. Al-Angesena area)and South and West Darfur states (e.g. RadomNational park). Because of the unsecure condi-tions, it is not surprising that the data collection(e.g. species diversity) for conservation (e.g.habitat restoration) is extremely rare and some-times impossible. This shortage of informationmakes conservation planning haphazard and inter-ventions cannot even begin.

Accelerating natural disturbances

Desertification is a familiar scenario in almost70% of the country and one of the biggest chal-lenges not only because of its fast annual creepingrate but also because it is encroaching on vasthabitat areas (Table 1). The high rate of deforesta-tion, soil erosion, forest fires and few reforestationefforts are primary drivers of this phenomenon. Inaddition, the I.P.C.C. 5th report classified Sudan asone of the most vulnerable spots to climatic changessince the country is at the defense line of the sub-

548 AHMED A. H. SIDDIG

Saharan region and has high deforestation rates.Consequently extreme events such as drought,flooding and fire are likely to increase severely(Badri, 2012). Conflicts result in more stochasticdeforestations and unplanned use of natural re-sources which ultimately increase the risk of ero-sion and desertification.

Absence of local communities in establishing

Absence of local communities in establishin-gand adopting participatory conservation projects.Community involvement varies from place toanother, but for the time being the general public,is concerned more about safety, peace, povertyalleviation, and food security rather than conservingbiodiversity.

Political restrictions

Political restrictions from the government overthe NGOs working in environmental fields. Due tothese tensions some NGOs are having difficultiesimplementing their conservation projects becausethe government wants them to do it according to itsagenda which is not necessarily the same as theNGO’s plans.

THE BIG PICTURE OF BIODIVERSITYCHALLENGES IN AFRICA

The truth is that the circumstances (i.e. civilwars and instability) threatening the biodiversity ofSudan occur elsewhere, not only in neighboringcountries (e.g. South Sudan, Libya and CentralRepublic of Africa) but also in the majority of theAfrican countries (e.g. Mali and Somalia). Unfor-tunately, political instability, spreading wars andchronic conflicts, millions of refugees and displacedpeople, severe levels of poverty and low educationare the largest common denominator among mostcountries of the region (Swatuk, 2007; Nur, 2007).Furthermore, these countries have weak conserva-tion institutions with no clear plans aggravated bybudget issues. Because conservation in generalneeds committed governments, people living in asafe and healthy environment, and available re-sources, it is not surprising that issues of biodiver-sity conservation are a low priority in Africa.

The other dimension of this dilemma is that wedo not know when these decades of unrest andconflicts are going to stop (though the reasonsbehind them are well known) so that developmentcan begin. Meanwhile, the consequences of suchdeterioration of biodiversity in African countrieson the global environment and biodiversitybecome more severe and uncertain. For instance,U.N.E.P. (2013) reported that the globally impor-tant and richest tropical areas in Africa such asLake Victoria, Congo basin and the Nile fall inregions where conflicts have raged for decadesand consequently no detailed biodiversity updatesor related environmental data are available. Theecological significance of this area is not limitedto global water budget and winter habitat forseveral western migratory birds. The region is alsoconsidered an important sink for carbon dioxide,thus significant to the global carbon budget and allglobal climate change (U.N.E.P., 2006).

While the governments and the oppositions incountries like Mali, Libya, Egypt, Somalia andSudan are so busy in fighting each other and allo-cating most resources and efforts to this, appar-ently they have forgotten to be united againstdrought and desertification as the biggest enemythese countries and their people have ever faced.The region has the most severe deforestationworldwide, since vast areas being cleared bymillions from local communities who were forcedby wars, poverty and lack of development to useforests as their only source for shelter, livelihood,energy, and building materials. There is much tolose: more than 70% of the African tropical forestsare located in Democratic Republic of Congo,Rwanda, Burundi, Central African Republic,Sudan and South Sudan, where deforestation re-lated to conflicts is happening every day (Mon-tagnini & Jordan, 2005).

It is important to mention the influences of thiscontinental unrest on the ability of internationalpartners (e.g. U.N.E.P., U.N.D.P., W.W.F., WorldBank, U.S.A.I.D., Conservation International, andWCS) to continue funding biodiversity and envi-ronmental conservation projects in Africa. Not onlyis there the direct risks of performing field work orwasting money, but part of this discouragement isbecause it is very unlikely that conservation planswill achieve the goals of the projects in a sustain-able manner.

549Biodiversity of Sudan: between the harsh conditions, political instability and civil wars

Despite this dark picture of biodiversity inAfrica, there are a couple of bright spots. There istremendous progress in some countries such asSouth Africa, Kenya and Tanzania whom justpassed through a long history of similar politicaltragedies but ended up as successful stories. SouthAfrica, after years and years of violence, is a goodexample of how stability can make developmentpossible. Among several paths of reforms, biodiver-sity conservation was launched following simpleprinciples based on strong governmental authorityand involvement of universities and researchcenters, local communities and NGOs in planningand management of natural resources. By 2012,official South African reports stated that 9.3 millionpeople come to the country from all over the worldfor wildlife and ecotourism, which is a great achieve-ment in biodiversity conservation.

My second example is Kenya that came a longway from crises to become the largest center ofinternational and regional environmental organiza-tions in the continent. ‘Those trees make Kenya,Kenya!’ is a familiar slogan to Kenyans and peo-ple who visit Kenya. It represents the vision of thecountry regarding the environment and indicatesawareness and adoption by local communities.Establishing community based-ecotourism orga-nizations is an impressive and creative examplethat shows what can be done when a committedgovernment works together with responsibleNGOs and engaged citizens.

Let me conclude by mentioning the interestinglesson of Tanzania in biodiversity conservation andits significance in stabilizing the economy of thecountry. There is no doubt that Tanzanian govern-ment, with local and international partners, hasworked very hard to develop the current workingplan for managing protected areas and positioningthem as a primary source of income to the country.This wonderful model of managing natural re-sources is not only a plan for biodiversity conser-vation, but also made Serengeti, Arusha and other12 national parks among top tourism areas in theworld. The Tanzanian government announced in2013 that the country has joined the club of 1-million wildlife tourists per year, which is a bigachievement. There are also other encouragingattempts by few countries including Zimbabwe,Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia who are relativelystable with well-developed biodiversity plans.

TOP TEN PROPOSALS FOR BETTERBIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

The big message I want to convey by this paperis that conservation action is still possible. It isnever too late as long as there are peace, stability,willingness, and overall the governmental commit-ments and engaged citizens and NGOs, no matterhow few the resources. Countries can maximize theuse of land resources for the benefit of people at thesame time as aiming towards sustainable biodiver-sity conservation. Consistent with this belief anddrawing from success stories mentioned above andcall by recent reports e.g. U.N.E.P. & I.E.S. (2007)and Badri (2012), I suggest some strategies (Fig. 2)to improve the existed efforts. These would be agreat start towards better biodiversity conservationin Sudan as well as elsewhere in the region whereconflicts and unrest continue.

Management strategies

1. Governance and Government commitmenttowards natural resources conservation by support-ing annual budgets and strengthening the institu-tions that formulate and implement the conservationplans with systematic monitoring and evaluationprotocols.

2. Improving environmental educationalprograms especially at secondary and highereducation levels by addressing the recent globallyimportant issues (e.g. climate change, endangeredspecies) as annual updates in the curriculum. Morebroadly, major needs of the education system ofSudan are strengthened polices, curriculumreforms to match international trends (e. g. millen-nium goals), training of faculty (teachers) andassistant staff, and improved government commit-ment and funding. I urge adoption of some inter-national (similar educational models) standardssuch as quality assurance systems that includestrict monitoring and evaluation system of the edu-cational process.

3. Adoption of research and scientific methodsto identify conservation priority areas (e.g. ecosys-tem level vs. population level) but also selectamong many adaptation strategies (e.g. water har-vesting vs. enclosures for habitat restoration).


4. Use of technology in management planningsuch as remote sensing, GIS, radio collars, cameratraps, and acoustic monitoring to improve manage-ment and inform decision makers.

5. Adoption of long-term monitoring programsby focusing on specific focal ecosystem indicators(e.g. abundances, composition and richness) andkey climatic variables (e.g. amount and length ofrainy season) at permanent plots across the country.These monitoring data will be good indications notonly for detecting current conditions and trends, butalso could alert managers to early warning signalsof ecosystem change.

6. Involvement of indigenous communities andnongovernmental stakeholders in conservationplanning and implementation. This community

involvement could be achieved by using a citizenscience approach that can play two roles at once.While involvements of local communities willlikely increase the awareness about certain environ-mental issues (e.g. risk of deforestation) it could bea cost-effective way to collect biodiversity datasuch as species occupancy information.

7. Capacity building, especially for natural re-sources mangers, focuses on improving awarenessfor the reasons to protect biodiversity, identifyinghot spots, and building monitoring skills and adocumentation system for conservation projects.

8. Enforcing and updating legislation so thatconservation efforts are based on the power of law.One sad example though is that National park likeRadom is the biggest protected area in the country

Figure 2. A proposed framework for environmental conservation in Sudan based on the role of the government in initiating research and management plans with consideration of environmental stakeholders.


but most of its area is dominated by drug cartelsfarming activates; furthermore there is no gover-nment authority inside the park to take actions.

9. Strengthen networking and international part-nerships with powerful agencies such as WildlifeConservation Society (W.C.S.), World WildlifeFund (W.W.F.), and Nature Conservancy and othersto take advantage of their experience in conserva-tion elsewhere.

10. Activating the commitments of Sudan in in-ternational environmental conventions (e.g. UnitedNations Convention on Environment and Develop-ment, U.N.C.E.D., United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change, U.N.F.C.C.C.,Convention of Biological Diversity, C.B.D., Con-vention on international Trade in EndangeredSpecies of Wild Fauna and Flora (C.I.T.E.S.) andprotocols (e.g. Kyoto and Ramsar) and followingnational action guidelines.

Urgent research needs

My suggestions for management interventionsemphasize the adoption of research and scientificapproaches. I believe that research must play a keyrole in the next era of conservation biology inSudan. Research would diagnose major causes ofthe deterioration of biodiversity and reveals the hotspots of decline during the past. In addition, re-search will establish baseline information, identifypriorities, and inform future management and in-vestment of resources.

Although the importance of research andscience-based decisions has been urged by manyauthors and reports previously (e.g. Abdelhameed,2007; Zakialdeen, 2009; Funk et al., 2011), like allthings in Sudan, research has encountered manyobstacles ranging from funding, to weak institu-tions and facilities, to absence of master plans, toresearch capacity (e.g. training). Identifying themost pressing research questions will help to focuslimited resources. Based on the work of Sutherlandet al. (2009) regarding the top hundred mostimportant questions to conservation of global bio-diversity, I scaled down to Sudan and adapted a listof top ten research questions about biodiversity ofthe country.

The questions are:

1. Desertification and drought

Studies on the causes of desertification are rela-tively better and more focused than studies of strate-gies of control. Despite these efforts there are manyresearch gaps at the country level such as: Wheredo the greatest effects of desertification occur?What is the encroachment rate of the desert andwhere does mostly occur (i.e. how many km/yr.)?Also, important related questions remain unan-swered, for example: What is the frequency and du-ration of drought periods? Are there socioeconomicimpacts of desertification and drought? What arethese impacts and where?

2. Climate change

The concern with climate change in dry lands ishow to adapt to it in the context of the myriadproblems already facing these areas. For instance,how to allocate limited resources among manyurgent needs - for example, choosing between waterharvesting techniques or establishing refugia in pro-tected areas - needs to be studied and choices basedon objective (i.e. quantitative) criteria. To designeffective studies, it is important that to determinethe methods of evaluating the vulnerabilities andeffectiveness of adaptations and mitigation mea-sures at any ecosystem.

3. Biodiversity, population dynamics andconservation hot spots

There is an absence of biodiversity informationin Sudan; the I.U.C.N. (2013) reported zeros formany taxa to indicate a data deficit. Therefore, to as-sess the conservation status of species and to makea baseline for any further questions, we need to knowwho is where and how many of them are there, par-ticularly at the protected areas. For endangeredspecies, we need to assess the status and likelihoodof extinction by conducting a population viabilityanalysis (PVA), a widely adopted technique in con-servation biology (Lindenmayer et al., 1993; Vie etal., 2009). Additional key studies that relate conser-vation and populations dynamics include studies ofpopulation characteristics other than abundance. Forexample, fecundity, age classes and sex ratio data,especially for threatened species, are keys to under-standing the population dynamics.


Understanding how human activities (e.g. defor-estation by refugees), environmental (e.g., fire) andbiological (e.g., disease) disturbances impact popu-lations, communities and metapopulation processare also important.

4. Forest ecology, wetlands and habitat as-sessment

Issues like seed germination and natural regen-eration of some threatened trees species such asa desert date (Balanites aegyptiaca Del.) andBoswellia papyrifera Del. are of great concern andshould be a priority area of research. Also there isan absence of studies in important areas like thetemporary wetlands and flood plains of the Nile.These are thought to be rich ecosystems supportingseveral fauna and flora species as well as an essen-tial source of livelihood to millions of people livingat the Nile strip and tributaries.

5. Ecological modeling and forecasting

Modeling, simulations and other statistical tech-niques can be employed to craft very sophisticatedecological questions (e.g. what if) and to improve ourunderstanding about possible future scenarios. Mod-eling techniques can also integrate data and predic-tions over large spatial scales (i.e. landscape level).

6. Environmental education

I believe that education is the right way to startmaking real changes in biodiversity conservation inthe country. However, the current education systemis broken and needs to be reformed on scientificbasis starting by asking questions like: Does oureducation meet standards at the levels of internatio-nal criteria (e.g. international education polices ofthe U.N.E.S.C.O.)? How could we develop aquality assurance system for higher educationinstitutions generally in Sudan in a cost-effectiveway? I think by answering these questions we canmake sure our environmental education meets theinternational quality standards in higher educationwith a monitoring and evaluation system.

7. Environmental risk assessments

Despite the political instability and unrest,Sudan has witnessed some developmental projects

such new dams, highways and establishment ofurban centers. The call here is that biodiversity andrisk assessments studies should be considered when-ever similar projects are being planned (El-Meghraby, 2009). As violence and conflicts continuein many parts of the country, there is a need to knowwhat exactly the effect of these wars is on biodiver-sity. I suggest that knowing the effect of a particularcivil war that has a certain number of refuges on thesurrounding forest cover would be useful to predictthe future dynamics of the habitat affected by war.

CONCLUSIONS

Biodiversity is of critical importance to thelivelihood of people and is also of high ecologicalvalue. Despite its importance, biodiversity inSudan, as many other resources, has been a victimof political instability and continuous civil warssince the 1950s. Absence of strong governance andpolices, and socioeconomic factors have contrib-uted to this substantial deterioration. In addition, theharsh setting, drought, desertification, flooding,fire, habitat destruction and recent climate changehave played a great role in reducing habitats andpopulations.

Despite these stressors on biodiversity and thelack of current information about the ecosystems,communities and populations, conservation effortsmust proceed with effective management actions.Urgent management actions at this point should in-clude governance and governmental commitment(e.g. funding, facilities, policies), adoption of re-search and improving environmental education,adoption of technology and long-term monitoringprograms, and involving local communities andNGOs in planning and enforcement of legislations.The government must also stay committed to inter-national environmental conventions and protocols(i.e. U.N.C.E.D., U.N.F.C.C.C., C.B.D., C.I.T.E.S.),Finally, I recommend capacity building and trainingof conservation practitioners. This would have greatvalue especially if it is conducted in the context ofinternational partnerships with other prominentconservation agencies (e.g. U.S.A.I.D., W.C.S.,W.W.F., and The Nature Conservancy).

The research need at this point is to create thebench marks to build upon. Not only questionsconcerning species richness and abundance are


important. It is also critical to know the effects ofdifferent disturbance factors (e.g. desertificationand human aspects) on the ecosystems, habitats andpopulations. Studies investigating the role of biodi-versity in the livelihood of local communities aswell as the role of communities in conservationshould be a priority. The Nile needs more in-depthinvestigations about its faunal and floral diversity,biogeochemistry, water chemistry and the effects ofheavy agricultural and urbanization activities on theenvironment of the both banks of the Nile. Alsoareas affected by the conflicts, especially where theeffects of refugees and internally displaced peoplecould affect the resources must be a priority ofresearch.

In conclusion, I believe that all researchers andconservation biologists in Sudan share with me thesame positive feelings and responsibility about thecountry’s biodiversity and resources. I hope thiswork to lead to new initiatives from both the gov-ernment agencies and conservation biologists. Itruly want this report to motivate in-depth work andcollaborative efforts that will substantially improvethe status of biodiversity in Sudan as well as be amodel for conservation in the region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper came after the invitation from Har-vard Forest (H.F.), Harvard University to give a talkabout biodiversity of Sudan - status, conservationchallenges, research needs. I do gratefully offer myacknowledgment to Audrey Barker Plotkin – the re-search and seminar coordinator in HF for the requestand discussion of the initial idea. Also I would liketo warmly thank Professor Aaron M. Ellison, Har-vard Forest for his valuable comments and encoura-gement to write this paper. Also I extend my thanksto Islamic Development Bank (I.D.B.) for fundingmy PhD research in US as well as to Harvard Forestfor providing host and space to my research.

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